Texas Basketball: 3 transfer portal targets coming to the forefront in July

Dawson Garcia, PF

It’s hard to say that the biggest transfer portal target for Beard and the Longhorns at this point of the offseason is not the former highly-touted four-star recruit and freshman power forward Dawson Garcia. After spending one season with the Marquette Golden Eagles under former head coach Steve Wojciechowski, Garcia put his name in the transfer portal later on this offseason.

Garcia was recruited by the Longhorns hard when the head coach was Shaka Smart. And with Smart making his way to his home state of Wisconsin this offseason to become the next Marquette head coach, it seems like there’s nothing he can do to land or retain Garcia.

A stud for the Golden Eagles during his true freshman campaign last season, Garcia earned himself Big East All-Freshman Team honors. He averaged 13.0 points per game, 6.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks. And Garcia shot 48.0 percent from the field, 35.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Placing Garcia alongside the likes of Mitchell, Disu, Bishop, and the former Utah Utes junior forward Timmy Allen would be a true embarrassment of riches in the forward/frontcourt rotation for Beard and the Longhorns. But there could be some parity here for Beard if he could have a top frontcourt trio featuring Mitchell, Disu, and Garcia.

Both Texas and the Texas Tech Red Raiders pursued Garcia hard when he was coming out of high school. Texas will have to fight, though, to keep Garcia’s interests on them as he is reportedly visiting with the Arizona Wildcats this weekend.